


The Author of Tragedy

by thetransgirlwhoneverwas



Series: Fictober 2019 [16]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-24 07:06:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21095399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetransgirlwhoneverwas/pseuds/thetransgirlwhoneverwas
Summary: A revolution on a planet that is supposed to be at peace would be a situation for the Doctor to investigate at the best of times. A distress signal from that planet, and the presence of an old acquaintance who cannot be trusted only thickens the plot.





	The Author of Tragedy

The Doctor sat in his favourite chair, a mug of tea on the table beside him, reading through an Agatha Christie novel Charley had already read several times, and she could see what point of the novel he had reached purely by the position of his eyebrows in relation to his eyes as she sat pretending to read _Harry Potter_. The central column of the TARDIS rose and fell in a steady rhythm, the hum of the machine having become a soothing white noise in the background of Charley’s life as the universe passed them by outside of the transparent ceiling. She took a sip from her own mug of tea, now cooled to a perfect temperature, seeing that the Doctor had reached a particularly exciting revelation: he said nothing, unusually, but his eyebrows were almost in his hair, and Charley half expected his mouth to start hanging agape.

Before she had a chance to go back to her book, she noticed a light shining on the TARDIS, but before she had a chance to bring it to the Doctor’s attention, an alarm started blaring, making him drop his book.

“Oh, now I’ve lost my page,” he complained. “Couldn’t you have given me some warning, old girl?” he asked the TARDIS.

“I think that _was_ the warning, Doctor,” Charley observed.

“Yes, well,” the Doctor answered, unable to think of a retort. He picked his book back up, placed it gently on the table beside him, and walked over to the console, still taking the occasional sip of tea.

“So…” Charley started, waiting for the Doctor to finish her sentence.

“So?” he did not.

“So what is the alarm about, Doctor?”

“Oh!” he exclaimed, apparently so caught up in the suddenness of the warning he had forgotten that it was supposed to be warning him about something. A second of observation later he found out “it’s a distress signal. From a fellow Time Lord! How exciting!”

“Isn’t that a bad thing?” Charley asked. “That someone is in distress?”

“I mean, yes,” the Doctor replied hastily. “But also it probably means another renegade having some exciting adventure, and you know I’m always interested in an exciting adventure.”

“So, full steam ahead?” Charley asked, secretly just as excited.

“Full steam ahead,” the Doctor confirmed, flipping switches and pressing buttons as the TARDIS lurched in a different direction and began to carry them towards the distress signal.

“Any idea what we’re in for, Doctor?” Charley realised she probably should have asked this beforehand, but they were on their way now.

“Absolutely no idea, Charley!” the Doctor answered, beaming at her. “The signal is coming from Xalia.”

“What’s it like on Xalia?”

“Fairly unremarkable,” the Doctor explained. “Not much has ever really happened there on a cosmic scale. Just a standard human colony world, if there is such a thing. I went there once with Mary Shelley and she didn’t seem too impressed, and she really enjoyed the future, let me tell you.”

And the name dropping began, Charley thought to herself, rolling her eyes and smirking.

The TARDIS wheezed and groaned onto the planet’s surface. Charley jauntily walked over to the door while the Doctor glanced at the scanner, moved to join her, frowned, and took another look at the scanner. “Hold on one second, Charley, just let me…”

“Doctor, there’s no better way to find out what’s going on than by going out and looking,” she chided him, opening the door. “Now, come on, let’s-”

“Charley, get back!” the Doctor shouted across the room. Charley fell backwards, startled both by the Doctor’s sudden urgency and by the hail of bullets that flew past the TARDIS accompanied by screams, and soon followed by a group of soldiers holding large guns and thankfully far too focused on their target to notice Charley staring out of the doorway.

“What in Rassilon’s name is going on here?” the Doctor muttered to himself.

“That was close!” Charley seemed shaken, but picked herself up. “It’s a good thing you told me to stay back, or I’d have walked straight out into that!”

“Not the wisest decision, walking straight from a TARDIS into a gunfight,” the Doctor remarked sardonically.

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience, Doctor,” Charley giggled.

“Yes, well, there’s no time for that now,” the serious tone was back. “I don’t remember anything like this happening here, as far as I know there haven’t been any major wars at this point in Xalian history.”

“So, all of the half destroyed buildings, rubble, and collapsed statues weren’t what you were expecting?”

“Statues?” that had really thrown the Doctor. He looked at the remains of a statue that had obviously been pulled down. A figure standing tall, at least 20 feet high and looking very powerful and authoritative. What remained of the face on the ground had a very stern expression, and the inscription on the bottom read “The Glorious Autarch”. There seemed to be several, and Charley could see even more, as well as several much larger ones, on the hill the soldiers had run in the direction of, many adorning the huge domed building at the top.

“That’s...very concerning,” the Doctor noted. “Either we’re way off course, or something has happened to throw this planet’s history off track, and I really have no idea which one.”

“Are we in the right place to find the source of that distress?” Charley asked. “Maybe that will help us figure it out.”

“Oh, most definitely,” the Doctor confirmed. “I homed in straight onto the signal, we should be very close. But we should also be in a golden age of peace right now.”

Both were quiet, listening to the sounds of gunfire, screaming and battle, commands being shouted, explosions, and a distinct lack of peace.

“The golden age appears to be over, Doctor,” Charley remarked.

“And these statues imply that the golden age of peace was actually a golden age of tyranny,” the Doctor said. “Whatever happened, we appear to have landed in the middle of a revolution.”

“Not the kind of place we want to visit on a lazy afternoon,” Charley replied, although she was clearly becoming worried as well.

Before either of them had a chance to venture any ideas, a voice called from behind them that made the Doctor’s shoulders tense, and he gave an irritated sigh: “Doctor! I’d hoped that it would be you who answered!”

The Doctor turned and saw an unwelcome familiar face running towards them, waving at them excitedly and apparently entirely unconcerned by the destruction surrounding them. Her leather jacket billowed behind her as she ran, and the bangle on her wrist bounced as she waved.

“Oh,” the Doctor said, in an unimpressed tone and wearing a very unimpressed expression. “It’s you.”

“Oh, don’t be like that, Doctor!” the new figure grinned at him, completely ignoring Charley. “It’s been a long time, it’s so good to see you, I do love a good renegade meeting, right?”

The Doctor sighed again. “Charley, allow me to introduce my fellow Time Lord. This is the Rider. Rider, this is Charley.”

The Rider again completely ignored Charley and moved towards the Doctor for a hug, which the Doctor dodged.

“I presume you are the reason that this planet is significantly less peaceful than it should be?” the Doctor interrogated.

“What?” the Rider feigned shock and offence at the assumption. “Me? Interfering? You think this was me? Really?”

“Yes,” the Doctor answered bluntly.

“Well,” the Rider stretched the word out for several seconds. “You have a point, but it actually wasn’t me this time. Thing is, Xalia has never really been that golden age-y, it’s just that the ones in charge told the rest of the universe that everything was great when they were actually a little bit...really really fascist. It happens.”

Charley wasn’t sure whether or not the Doctor believed this, but since the Rider had rather rudely completely blanked her so far, she decided it was time to speak up. “And how do we know you’re telling the truth?”

The Rider shot her an incredibly annoyed look, as if she was appalled that Charley had had the gall to speak to her, and Charley immediately decided she did not like the Rider, who again ignored her and instead directed her response to the Doctor. “Look, I know you don’t trust me.”

“The first time we met you set off a volcano and put billions in danger just to see what would happen.”

“_But_,” the Rider continued. “I promise you, cross my hearts and hope to regenerate, that this whole thing isn’t my fault. Would I lie to you?”

“You have a tendency to not tell me most of the context I need in any situation,” the Doctor started, to the Rider’s obvious chagrin. “But, you’re not in the habit of outright lying to me. Let’s pretend that I believe you for now. What are you trying to accomplish here?”

“Why, I’m surprised you doubt me!” the Rider replied. “I’m just trying to help these poor rebels overcome their cruel and destructive dictators! Surely you can find it in yourself to help me with that.”

The Doctor considered. He considered for quite some time. The Rider looked at him excitedly, awaiting his response. The Doctor continued to consider, and the Rider continued to not so much as spare a glance in Charley’s direction.

“Alright,” the Doctor said finally, and the Rider jumped for joy, shouting “come on, then!” and running off in the direction of the sounds of battle before the Doctor could say anything else. She practically leapt towards the hill, behind a building, and vanished out of their sight.

“Well!” Charley huffed. “She wasn’t exactly polite! Why did you go along with it, Doctor?”

“That’s just what the Rider is like,” the Doctor explained. “I’m sorry about her, I really am.”

“Did she really set off a volcano? Try to kill that many people?” Charley was incredulous that the Doctor would entertain working with a person willing to do that.

“Some Time Lords have a...very different sense of morality to you or me.” the Doctor explained.

“That’s something of an understatement.”

“The Rider...well, she loves stories,” the Doctor continued. “She always wants to do whatever is the most...let’s say, dramatic. She also thinks of us Time Lords as above everyone else, that we should shape the story of the universe instead of simply existing as part of it.”

“Thank you for that,” Charley shot back, venom in her voice.

“I don’t agree with her!” the Doctor defended himself.

“So, she can’t be trusted,” Charley stated rather than asking.

“I never really know what she’s going to do next,” the Doctor confirmed. “But she seems genuine here. We should probably help her out, we want to help the rebels anyway. I think we’ve got a pretty clear picture of what’s happening here.”

“If you say so,” Charley relented. “I trust you, Doctor.”

“Thank you,” he responded, and he genuinely meant it. “Shall we help overthrow an oppressive regime?”

“You!” came another voice from behind them. The Doctor and Charley turned around to find a woman in soldier fatigues, at least six foot tall and Charley thought she looked like she could lift a horse with one arm. She and her entourage were all carrying the same huge guns Charley had seen earlier, and on instinct both she and the Doctor raised their arms in surrender.

The soldier in charge examined them closely for a while, and Charley felt the impression she was being sized up for how long she would last in a battlefield. Finally, the woman appeared to come to a realisation.

“You’re the Doctor, aren’t you?”

The Doctor’s eyebrows raised. “You’ve heard of me?”

“The Rider told us to expect you, and…” she stopped.

“...and?” Charley asked hesitantly.

“She said you might be bringing a...pet.”

“A _PET_?” Charley erupted.

“She’s my friend, and she’s with me,” the Doctor added hastily, eager to avoid any form of confrontation. “So you know of the Rider?”

“She’s the one who started all this,” the woman answered, gesturing to the results of the revolution. “She inspired all of us, helped us fight back!”

“Sounds about right,” the Doctor muttered. “So, since we’ve been drafted, where are we heading?”

“Intel suggests the enemy has some form of superweapon,” the general responded. “But it isn’t operational yet. You two are going to make sure it stays that way.”

“How do you propose we do that?” Charley asked. “We don’t know anything about this weapon.”

The general shrugged. “That’s what the Rider said you’d do.”

“Ah, the Rider, who knows what she’s up to,” the Doctor sighed again. “Where did she run off to, anyway?”

“Look, I’m just trying to free my people,” the general’s tone had lost any friendliness, and was now back to commanding. “If you can’t help us, just stay out of our way. We’ll deal with the superweapon if you can’t.”

As if on cue, a humming started to reverberate around them.

“Be ready!” the general shouted, and her troops prepared their weapons.

Charley felt a charge in the air, as if lightning was about to strike. The hum grew louder, and as she listened she identified the direction it came from: the hill. The building. As the hum grew louder and the air grew more electric, the dome of the building started to open and retract. From out of the building came a spire, rising through the air, until a cannon attached to the base became visible. Charley looked up and only now noticed that the sky had darkened, clouds were forming faster than she thought possible, and all the hairs on the back of her neck began to stand on end. In a flash, lightning struck the spire, sending a crash of sound that blasted straight through her, almost knocking her backwards. Another bolt struck, the sky black as night where it had been sunny just seconds ago. Another bolt, and another, lightning arced across the sky as it hit the spire again and again, the hum only growing more and more intense. When the thunder and lightning stopped, the front of the cannon began to glow, and turned to face in their direction.

“What in the…” the general stared at the spire, unable to comprehend how any of this was possible.

“Charley!” the Doctor shouted. “Behind the TARDIS, now!”

“Coming, Doctor!” Charley responded, running for cover and ducking behind the TARDIS. The general followed, and as her troops followed suit, the loudest sound of all crashed through the city as the weapon fired. Seconds before Charley got behind the TARDIS, she saw it: a wave of clear energy rippled from the weapon, down the hill and through the city. She found shelter behind the blue box just in time; some of the general’s troops were not fast enough. Charley covered her ears, but couldn’t block out the screams as the wave impacted the area, leaving the buildings entirely unscathed but burning through the people in its path, leaving nothing but smouldering bones in its wake.

The clouds dissipated, the hum stopped, and the air cleared. The weapon had run its course, and clearly would need time to charge before firing again, but it had done its work. The Doctor stepped out and surveyed the scene. Of the hundreds of troops that had been in the area, following the general, surveying their surroundings, or leant up against a wall, only those who had been behind the TARDIS had survived. Scattered bones littered the ground around them.

“Doctor…” Charley looked at him, eyes pleading for any comfort in the wake of the devastation, but there was no softness in his eyes. Only fire and determination.

“We have to stop that weapon from firing again, Charley,” he said.

“My...my people...how many…” the general stammered.

“I’m sorry, general,” the Doctor tried to reassure her. “We can’t let them use that weapon again.”

“How?” she asked. “How could they have built something like that? How do they have that kind of technology? It’s...it’s beyond anything we’ve ever seen.”

“It’s definitely far in advance of the technology they should have,” the Doctor confirmed.

“The buildings, they’re fine,” the general desperately looked for any sign of life. “The people inside, are they…?”

“I don’t know,” the Doctor admitted. “But we can’t worry about that now. Otherwise they’ll be able to use it again.”

“Even their own people,” the general said, seeing uniforms of the city’s security force near piles of bones, still burning gently. She stood up straight and cleared her throat. “You’re right. We have to destroy that thing, and the...the ones who made it. Onward. Now!”

Her surviving troops nodded and, collecting any resolve they had left, charged forward with her towards the hill.

“Doctor,” Charley asked, suddenly remembering. “Do you think the Rider-”

“I don’t know, Charley,” the Doctor cut her off. Obviously he had already thought of the question, and didn’t want to think about the answer. “We need to-”

“There you are!” came the voice again as the Rider ran up to them once more. “Wow, I almost thought you’d have died after that, what an event. But here you are, you’re fine, and we’re ready to keep going!”

“W-h-you, how?” the Doctor fumbled over his words. “How did you survive?”

“I hid,” she said, and offered no further explanations. “Now, are we going? I know a shortcut!” and she ran off before either of them could say anything. The Doctor and Charley looked at each other, shrugged, and followed after her.

When they caught up, the Rider was true to her word: she took them into a house on the edge of a hill.

“This was the house of a particularly zealous loyalist of the current regime,” the Rider explained. “And he built a tunnel for the leaders to escape through in case, well, in case a revolution like this happened. The leaders are currently in their citadel, they think they just killed everyone rebelling against them, but we can use this tunnel to get to the top of the hill! Great, right?”

“It’s certainly convenient,” the Doctor said, sounding unconvinced. “We’ll need to be quiet though. Sound can travel, and we don’t want them to know we’re coming.”

The three of them jumped down through a trapdoor and entered into a barely-lit tunnel that seemed to stretch on forever into darkness. The Doctor and Rider began walking up the incline, Charley following behind them, trying to work out what the Doctor was thinking. After a few minutes, the tunnel began to shake, and the musty air began to feel charged again. Charley knew that the weapon was about to be fired again, and had to stop herself from crying out when she heard the telltale roar. After the noise died down, they started walking, and Charley started to imagine what kind of adventures the Doctor and Rider must have had together. Anything to distract herself from worrying about whether or not the general was alive or had been destroyed by that awful weapon.

Eventually, after what felt to Charley like an eternity, she realised the tunnel was starting to get lighter. As she looked up, she could just about make out a wooden trapdoor, identical to the one they had entered through. The exit! At last, she thought to herself, and tried to mentally prepare for whatever they were going to find on the other end.

The three of them came up through the trapdoor, making more noise than they meant to and making Charley cringe and dread that at any moment they would surrounded by guards intent on killing them. When no such force arrived, they started to whisper a plan.

“The power cells for the weapon are below here, down the corridor,” the Rider pointed away from the trap door.

“How do you know that?” Charley whispered back. The Rider ignored her.

“If we can disable those, the weapon will be useless,” the Doctor said.

“Doctor!” Charley whispered again, hoping he wouldn’t ignore her. He didn’t acknowledge her question, and Charley started to wonder if he was getting as caught up in the situation as the Rider was. The three moved down the corridor slowly, as quietly as they could, stopping occasionally as they heard voices moving in front or behind them and ready to run if the need arose. Eventually, after several terrifyingly close calls, they came to a staircase leading down. Charley could hear machinery whirring and electricity sparking down the stairs.

“This is it,” the Doctor looked at her, then looked at the Rider. “You go and find the general, see if she’s okay. Charley and I will shut down the weapon.”

“Sure thing!” the Rider agreed, too loud for Charley’s liking, and dashed away.

“Doctor, now that she’s gone-” Charley started, but was cut off again.

“I know, Charley, this whole thing is suspicious, but we need to shut down the weapon.”

“But how do we know she isn’t leading us into a trap?” she demanded.

The Doctor took a deep breath. “Do you trust me?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then believe me,” he pleaded. “I don’t know why, but something tells me she is being honest with us, at least for now. Besides, we don’t have a better plan.”

“I suppose you’re right, Doctor,” Charley conceded.

“Also, do you think she has the patience to lead us into a trap after all that,” the Doctor smirked.

“Good point.”

They descended the staircase and came out into a room that must have taken up half of the inside of the hill the citadel was built on top of. Taking up almost the entire room was the biggest and most advanced generator Charley had ever seen.

“Doctor, it’s huge!” she marveled. “Hundreds of years beyond anything I’d ever see back home!”

“Indeed,” the Doctor shouted above the noise of the machine. “And at least a couple hundred beyond what this planet should have. This isn’t right.”

“We can worry about that later, surely, Doctor!” Charley tried to make him focus. “We need to stop this before they can kill even more people!”

“With you there, Charley,” the Doctor nodded. “...how?”

“...ah.”

“Hmm.”

“Um...start looking for an off switch?” Charley ventured half-heartedly. The Doctor gave her an exasperated look, but to both of their dismay, failed to come up with a better idea. They split up and started to look for anything that looked like it might be able to turn off the generator. The Doctor started to move around the device, but quickly stopped and ran back in the opposite direction when he heard Charley shout “Doctor! Over here!”

“You’ve found the control panel, well done Charley!” the Doctor praised, and Charley beamed back at him. “Now then, let’s take a look…” he tried to poke at one of the buttons, but only received an electric shock for his trouble.

“Ow!” he complained, shaking his finger. “Isomorphic controls, they shouldn’t have those.”

“Iso...what now?” Charley looked entirely bemused.

“Means only certain people can use these, and we’re not those people,” he explained.

“So, how are we going to shut it down then?” Charley asked. Before the Doctor responded, the noise of the generator grew even louder, and the sparking grew more intense. “Oh, no, I think they’re going to fire the weapon again Doctor!”

“I know, I know Charley.”

“We have to do something, quickly!”

“Okay, okay,” the Doctor took a breath. “Do you see that cable lying there on the floor?”

“Yes, I see it!”

“Pass it to me, I’ll plug it into the control panel and run as much power as I can through it.”

“What will that do?” Charley tried to stop herself panicking, but the machine was only growing louder.

“Hopefully it will fry the control panel and the failsafe will shut down the whole device,” the Doctor explained, talking fast enough that Charley could barely understand what he was saying. “Now, quickly Charley!”

She grabbed the cable from the floor, half expecting it to shock her. Somehow, it didn’t and she passed it over to the Doctor, who plugged it into a spare socket in the front of the control panel, and pointed at it with his sonic screwdriver. The connection sparked and fizzed, the lights and numbers on the panel going haywire, the panel itself starting to hum until it was almost as loud as the generator.

“Whoops,” the Doctor muttered.

“Whoops?” Charley questioned.

“That might have been too much power, it’s really overloading.”

“So, what do we-” the Doctor cut her off yet again.

“Run, Charley!” and the two ran up the staircase as the control panel sparked, before exploding entirely, shrapnel falling across the room. By the time they reached the top of the staircase, the Doctor and Charley were both out of breath, but as they listened, they couldn’t hear the telltale hum. The power generator had been disabled, and with it, the weapon.

“We did it, Doctor!” Charley celebrated.

“So we did!” the Doctor nodded. “Now, let’s go and find the general.”

The two wandered the corridors for a while until they heard shouting voices from above them. Finding staircase and following it up, they ran through a pair of grand doors into a central chamber, housing several terrified looking people in incredibly opulent clothes being held prisoner by a triumphant looking general. She waved at them with one arm, the other arm holding a man who Charley recognised as the man depicted in the statues adorning the citadel, looking significantly less stern and authoritative. In fact, he looked pathetic.

“After their weapon was disabled, they surrendered,” she explained, smiling genuinely. “Apparently the rest of their security force weren’t too impressed by them vapourising their own troops and turned on them.”

“So, I suppose you’ll be in charge now?” Charley asked.

“Well, my troops voted, and they want me to be in charge, so I guess so,” the general confirmed. “I’ve got a lot of changes to make, but I wanted to thank you both. Without you, none of this would have been possible.”

“It was nothing, really,” the Doctor brushed off the praise.

“It’s just what we do,” Charley backed him up.

“I’d like to thank the Rider, as well,” the general continued. “Don’t suppose you know where she is?”

The Doctor and Charley frowned. “She said she was going to find you,” Charley said.

“Haven’t seen her,” the general looked confused, but shrugged it off. “If you see her, send her my way? She started all this.”

“Of course,” the Doctor nodded.

“Well, there are a few prison cells with some dictators’ names on them,” the general said, hauling up her whimpering prisoner with one hand. “These people are responsible for a lot of crimes, and it’s about time they answered for them.”

“We leave this world in your capable hands,” the Doctor said, motioning towards the door. “We should be going.”

“Thank you again for all your help, Doctor! Charley!” the general called after them as they turned to leave. As soon as they did, the Doctor stopped smiling and his expression turned more stern.

“Doctor?” Charley asked. “We helped today, didn’t we? Shouldn’t we be happy?”

“We need to talk to the Rider,” was all he had to say, as they walked back to the TARDIS in silence, save for the jubilations of the victorious rebels around them.

As they entered the TARDIS, the Doctor went straight for the console and started to set coordinates.

“Where are we going?” Charley asked.

“25 years into the future,” the Doctor responded. “According to the TARDIS, that’s where the Rider has gone.”

Barely seconds later, the TARDIS landed. The Doctor wordlessly strode out to the door and walked out to the sight of the Rider stood in front of him. They had landed in the exact same spot as before, and the landscape had barely changed. Rubble still littered the area, bodies lay in the streets, buildings were collapsing from damage, and the statues were still destroyed, only these statues didn’t have the face of the man they had before. These statues resembled the general.

“So, Doctor, you fell for it, hook, line, and sinker!” the Rider taunted him.

“What?”

“You came right here, and didn’t stick around!” she continued. “But I did. I stuck around for a while.”

“It was you, wasn’t it,” the Doctor accused. “The technology was far too advanced, and you knew exactly how to disable it and where the generator was. _You_ helped them build it, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did!” the Rider confirmed, and Charley gasped. She couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t decided to like the Rider, but she had trusted and believed her. “You can’t have a good revolution story with no stakes! If the bad guys have a superweapon, you can’t just not fire it, how boring would that be?”

“So you inspired the people to rise up, helped build a weapon to kill thousands of them, then switched sides again and helped them win from the sidelines?” the Doctor challenged her. “That was your plan?”

“Absolutely!” the Rider smiled, betraying no hint of guilt or remorse, or even sadness for all the death. “Great story, right? And that was only the start!”

“The start?” Charley asked. “You did more?!”

“Of course I did!” she snapped at Charley, before chuckling briefly and turning back to the Doctor. “I was their advisor for a while, gave the general all sorts of ideas. _But_, some of the advice I gave was...maybe not in her best interest.”

“Hence the statues, and the new revolution,” the Doctor spat, disgust pouring from every word.

“How dramatic is that?” the Rider seemed genuinely excited by this. “The people rise up against their evil overlords, overcome great odds and weapons and defeat them, only to turn out just as bad as those they just overthrew!”

“But they only did that because of you!” Charley exclaimed.

“Yes, well, sometimes the story needs a little push to go in the right direction.”

Charley could barely believe what she was hearing. She stopped trying to keep herself composed and cried “but...but WHY?!”

“You humans, you’re just so fleeting!” the Rider turned and properly addressed Charley for the first time, her tone changing, filled with superiority. “You barely last a blink of an eye, and yet you fancy yourselves as having some importance! Well, that’s what I do! I give you importance! Stories are what make the universe interesting, and what’s the point if everyone’s too dull to enjoy living? I make things interesting, because without it the universe would be so...so...boring!”

“You’re horrible!” Charley shouted. “You’re callous, and you don’t care about anyone! You think everyone else is only around for your entertainment! It’s disgusting!”

“Honestly, Doctor,” the Rider turned away from Charley, who could barely contain her fury anymore. “I don’t know why you put up with them, they’re just so indignant.”

“She’s right, Rider,” the Doctor growled. “You’re responsible for all the deaths that have happened today, and I can’t forgive that. And neither will the High Council.”

“Ha!” the Rider laughed. “I’m not going back to Gallifrey, those ridiculous pen-pushers were what made me leave in the first place! Well, that, and hearing about all the fun you’d been having.”

“I’m taking you back to Gallifrey,” the Doctor said, voice dangerously low. “And you don’t have a say in the matter.”

“Well, maybe next time,” the Rider smiled, and pressed a hand to the Time Ring on her wrist, disappearing in the blink of an eye as the Doctor lunged forward to try to grab her. He sighed into the space where she once was.

“I can’t believe her!” Charley fumed. “Who does she think she is?”

“I’m sorry, Charley,” the Doctor mourned. “I didn’t realise just how uncaring she was.”

“It isn’t your fault, Doctor,” Charley put her hand on his shoulder, forcing herself to calm down. “I’m just sorry for these people. They’ve been forced into another war, and it’s her fault. Is there anything we can do for them?”

The Doctor shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think there’s been enough interference on Xalia for the moment. The best we can do is leave now, and hope that they find their peace.”

The Doctor and Charley walked into the TARDIS, which wheezed and groaned and disappeared, leaving behind a plaza full of rubble and broken statues for the second time.


End file.
